Liv
Many eons ago when the world was under the rulership of the Black Sun. The people worshiped the Hungering Powers. Their practices exemplified all sorts of human depravity too grotesque to describe. The tribe of Adam still kept the light of the Grand Architect alive, although in secret. This tribe was persecuted at every turn, and without mercy they were pursued.
A mother named Liv and her son Job lived near the city of Babylon. Job’s father was a soldier for the Lords of Chaos, the rulers of Babylon, and wanted nothing to do with a child. Just another sacrifice for the gods from his perspective, but Liv wanted to break free from the oppression of the dark powers, she was convinced by the worshippers of the tribe of Adam of the truth of God. She fled with her son to the desert to be amongst the travelers there. In this time of complete control the desert was one of the last places where men had some freedom. So long as they could keep one step ahead of the Hunters who would sought to capture renegades. Any taken this way were sold to the pits in Babylon for the sadistic urges of the Aristocracy.
The pits were a hellish place where those in society who had nothing left to give besides their bodies were placed. They were a mixture of slave auction and slaughter house. The Aristocracy of the city would peruse the pits regularly to find the appropriate chattel for their needs.
Even though the desert was away from the Lords of Chaos’s dominion it competed with them with its depravity. The black hole left in the sky by this celestial body sucked the heat and comfort from the sands. Instead of one night, two nights passed through the land in that time. With short windows of light and comfort to move and live. There were creatures which lurked in the nights. Some of which were creatures common known amongst the people only amplified in their aggressiveness and lust for blood. However, there were other twisted abominations who corrupted the land due to the Black Suns Presence. A painful and agonizing end awaited many a desert wanderer during the nights under the Dark Chasm.
Job was a precocious young boy no more than 12 years old, and his autonomous nature often landed him in trouble. One late afternoon as the caravan parked near a known watering spot. Jobs’ mother was washing clothes near a well, and Job wandered off. He found himself at the top of a hill overlooking their encampment. As Job scanned the horizon a glint caught his eye. Job, thinking it was a scouting party returning to the caravan from a hunt, tilted his knife to message back. Quickly, he realized his mistake, as a marauding group of bounty hunters descended on the camp. Job ran down to find his mother, and froze as she was taken away by the bounty hunters. Job ran, not to save her, but away from the bounty hunters as far and as fast as he could. Without a horse he was quickly over ran, and taken to the slave pits of Babylon.
Job shared the pits with other children stolen away from desert caravans. Some friends were fearful of what was to come as they all knew the stories of the pits, and the fate of those who were to find themselves there. The pits were the holding place for the bottom rung of society. The unholy churches, rich aristocrats, and corrupted government officials would regularly come to the pits to refill their human resources. Job spent 3 months in the pits before being taken out of them by Malos the procurer of pledges for acolyte training. These young boys would go through lethal combat, torture, psychological, and physical abuse to achieve “Redemption through sin”.
Malos was a cruel and evil taskmaster, and he relished his work. He was a man, but just barely, and he was successful in purging all emotion from the boys he “trained”, but Job was strong, and that strength made him valuable to Malos, and so he was given opportunities to prove his loyalty more than once. Pitting Job against his best friends in lethal combat, encouraging him to steal food and other comforts from new pledges, and participating in torturous acts on innocents. Job did all that he was asked, his only focus was survival. His soul and love for his mother buried under the rage and hatred Malos was cultivating within him. Only 1 and 1000 survive to become an acolyte. Only 1 in 10 acolytes become an initiate of the Cult of the Black Sun. Only one test awaited him. Job must face the only fear he had left.
Job had come a long way since the caravan, and he was an unthinking machine. At least that is how it appeared on the outside, what Job kept from everyone is that in quiet moments of solitude, which were exceedingly fleeting, he prayed. He prayed to god for forgiveness, and for the salvation of his soul as his corruption ran so deep only god’s hand could pull him from the dark. Job had to keep this out of his mind. As now on the final day of his training, to purge every last shred of humanity, his task was to summon a demon from the pits of hell to possess a woman, and for him to receive unholy communion with the Lesser Architect. What Job did not know was that the woman he was to possess was his own mother. Malos stood over Jobs shoulder as the divining circle was drawn around Liv, and a divining scepter was given to Job to begin the ritual. The room was filled with slaves and acolytes here to witness the final test. If Job was to fail he’d be offered up bit by bit as communion for those in attendance. As Malos whispered encouragement to sever his familial ties, Job felt the surge of unbridled emotion well up deep within him. Holding back his tears he held up the scepter to begin the incantations, and what came out was “God Protect Liv ‘’ and in an instant he felt divine power rush through the scepter transforming its dark twisted visage into a pristine crystalline wand. With a wave of it he was able to release all the slaves from their shackles, and purge Malos in a font of holy fire. Arcing bolts of divine energy shot out crackling and sparking in every direction, and Job fell to his knees in prayer. As the light dissipated and the slaves and acolytes ran out in complete revolt. Job turned to his mother who had been pierced with divine light and was bleeding heavily on the floor. As she lay dying in his arms he hugged her with tears, and she held him with a deep love and said. “God is with you, and I am with god. I’ll never leave you” and she kissed him on the cheek before releasing to the next life. The divine light led to a revolt which purged Babylon and the Black Sun in the skies. Job led the rebellion and defeated the Lords of Chaos. On completing his task he deemed the power too great, and cast it off mountain ledge now forgotten to time. The Age of the Black Sun began the end that day.
Liv was one of two wands which were placed by god that day into Babylon. The other was the Wireflower. And the stories of these two wands gave them their nickname “The finger of God”
